The Blubber

The Justice Department on Friday revealed an Iranian plot to assassinate Donald Trump, charging an individual who claimed he was instructed by a government official just before this week’s election to plan the murder of the president-elect.

Officials learned of the plot from Farhad Shakeri, an alleged Iranian government agent with a history of criminal activities in the U.S., including robbery, who maintains a network of criminal associates reportedly enlisted by Tehran for surveillance and murder-for-hire schemes.

According to a criminal complaint unsealed in Manhattan federal court, Shakeri told investigators that a contact in Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard directed him in September to halt other work and devise a plan within seven days to monitor and assassinate Trump. Shakeri’s contact allegedly emphasized the urgency, stating, “We have already spent a lot of money” and “money’s not an issue.” If the plan couldn't be devised within the week, the plot would be delayed until after the election, assuming it might then be easier to carry out, Shakeri reported.

Currently, Shakeri remains in Iran and is at large. Two other men, however, were arrested on charges that Shakeri recruited them to surveil and kill prominent Iranian-American journalist Masih Alinejad, who has survived multiple Iranian-backed murder-for-hire plots foiled by law enforcement.

“I’m very shocked,” Alinejad told the Associated Press over the phone from Berlin, where she was attending an anniversary ceremony marking the fall of the Berlin Wall. “This is the third attempt against me, and it’s shocking.”

In a social media post on X, Alinejad expressed her desire for safety: “I came to America to exercise my First Amendment right to freedom of speech. I don’t want to die. I want to fight against tyranny and deserve to be safe. Thank you to law enforcement for protecting me, and I urge the U.S. government to protect America’s national security.”

Lawyers for the two other defendants, identified as Jonathan Loadholt and Carlisle Rivera, did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Iran’s U.N. Mission also declined to comment.

Shakeri, originally from Afghanistan and deported from the U.S. after serving 14 years in prison for robbery, also informed investigators that he was instructed by his Revolutionary Guard contact to plan the assassinations of two Jewish-Americans in New York and Israeli tourists in Sri Lanka. Officials said Shakeri had connections with Rivera and an unnamed co-conspirator from their time in prison.

According to the complaint, Shakeri provided some details of the plots in recorded calls with FBI agents while in Iran. Although some information he shared was false, investigators found his statements about the Trump assassination plot and Iran’s willingness to pay significant sums credible.